The present disclosure generally relates to motor vehicles. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a seat latch and an assist handle found in a vehicle.
Large vehicles, such as sport utility vehicles (“SUVs”), trucks, vans, minivans, crossovers and the like, include passenger assist handles for passenger ingress and egress. Typically, the assist handle connects to the vehicle frame near an ingress/egress passenger opening. The passenger grips the assist handle for support when exiting and entering the vehicle through the ingress/egress opening. These known assist handles only serve one purpose, i.e., to assist the passenger when entering and exiting the vehicle.
Many of the aforementioned vehicles also include folding, or collapsible, vehicle seats. These folding vehicle seats include a seat back that pivots between an upright and a collapsed position. The seat back is pivoted into the collapsed position to provide access to a seating area behind the folding seat or to provide access to a cargo area that is located behind the folding seat. The seat back houses a latch that cooperates with a striker connected to the vehicle frame or seat base. The latch latches to the striker to lock the seat back in the upright position. Most strikers used in vehicles include a horizontally oriented bar that cooperates with a latch. The striker serves only one purpose, i.e., to cooperate with the latch of the vehicle seat to lock the seat back in the upright position.